Today’s reading is Mark 1:1-2:28.

I was struck pretty early in today’s reading. When the Jews were going out to see John the Baptist, they were being baptized and confessing their sins.

I recognize, of course, that the confession that is part of becoming God’s child is not the confession of sin, but the confession of faith in Christ (Romans 10:9-10). However, this confession caught my attention. Perhaps it caught my attention because of something a friend said to me recently.

“I didn’t really grasp God’s grace, until I actually started confessing my sins.” It was when he began to list out what he was forgiven for that he began to realize exactly how much God had done for him and exactly how much God must love him.

By the way, notice they did more than simply confess that they were sinners. They confessed their sins. Let’s not argue about how necessary this is in order to be saved. Instead, let’s simply recognize how beneficial it is to see God’s love and forgiveness. I’m going to spend some time today considering what God has done for me, what God has forgiven me and be reminded of how much He loves me.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 5:1-6:23.

What a great reminder I received today:

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12-14). 

Paul goes on to ask if we should sin because we are under grace and the answer is “By no means.” 

Paul gives a great reminder. I’m under grace now, but that doesn’t mean I can keep submitting myself to sin. Sadly, some become Christians and act as if that means any sins we commit are just wiped clean. They forget the power of sin. Sin destroys and dominates. If we have been set free from sin by Jesus Christ, let us not willingly surrender ourselves to sin again. If we think we can control and enjoy sin now that we are Christians, we are very much mistaken.

Today, instead of presenting my members to sin to obey its lead, I must submit myself to righteousness to obey its command. Since I am under God’s grace, I can actually accomplish this. Apparently, if I’m just under law, presenting myself to righteousness doesn’t work quite as well. However, since I am under grace I can live in such a way that sin won’t have dominion over me. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ who delivers me from the enslavement to sin that I so willingly walked into throughout my life.

But again, that freedom doesn’t mean sitting on my thumbs and just waiting for God to take my sins away. It means surrendering to His righteousness (that comes by faith in Jesus Christ). That’s what I’ll be working on today–surrendering to Jesus’ righteousness.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get from today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 21:1-22:30.

Sin is my problem. I was covered up with it. But I wanted to be holy. I wanted to be righteous. I wanted to be with God and like God. I have a couple of options. I could just say it is impossible and give up, living however I want. I could try to change on my own and try to live perfectly from this point on. I could try to live beyond perfectly striving to pay God back for my past sins while not committing anymore. The problem is that leads me back to option one, trying to live perfectly. I’ve learned that doesn’t work.

Then I read what God did for Paul. In Acts 22: 16, Ananias had told Paul, “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.” Paul’s sins could be washed away in baptism. So could mine. So can yours.

What a great thought that we can avoid the wrath of God. We can avoid the eternal consequences of all those sins we committed. God has said, “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins.” He’ll wash your sins away, but you must be baptized.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS: What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Luke 17:1-18:43.

Little children and blind beggars. They are nuisances. They get in the way. They bug and bother. Why would anyone be interested in them. In fact, no one was. The disciples were disturbed by the little children. The crowds were bothered by the blind beggar. Why can’t these people be quiet and stay away? Why do they always have to horn their way in on our time?

However, there was one who was interested. Despite the disciples attempts to keep the children away, Jesus said, “let the children come to me, and do not hinder them…” (Luke 18:16). Despite the crowds attempts to quiet the blind beggar, Jesus stopped and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Luke 18:41). Jesus did it.

Sadly, I often have little time for the children and blind beggars of the world. I’m too important. I’ve got too much important stuff to do. Don’t bother me with the trifling needs of the people around me. But Jesus is not like that. And I’m thankful. Because in reality in relation to Jesus, I am just a blind child begging for mercy and recovery.

Others may get in the way. They may try to convince me (some knowingly, some unknowingly) that I’m an embarrassment, that I’m not worthy, that I need to get my life together and then come back. But Jesus stops them and says, “Let him come to Me.” Thank you for that, Jesus. I love you.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Luke 7:1-8:56.

At first glance, there is something wrong in Luke 8:40-56. I mean sure, it is great that Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood and it is great that He raised the little girl from the dead. However, he touched an unclean woman with a flow of blood and a dead girl. There were laws about that. That made Him unclean. See Numbers 19:11-16. See also Leviticus 15:25-27.

I guess we can say that being unclean is not the same thing as sinning and so it doesn’t matter if He was made unclean. However, if we take that route, I think we actually miss the great point.

If you or I touched the woman or the girl, we would be made unclean. However, Jesus was so clean that when He touched them, their uncleanness didn’t rub off on Him. Rather, His cleanness rubbed off on them. They did not defile Him; He purified them. The woman became so clean her discharge stopped. The girl became so clean, she was made alive again.

What does this mean for me? When I draw close to Jesus, His cleanness will rub off on me. His touch cleanses me.

What am I going to do today? I’m going to figure out how I can get close to Jesus and touch Him.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Luke 7:1-8:56.

In Luke 7:36-50, the woman was so sinful, Simon refused to touch her. In fact, she was so sinful, Simon believed Jesus must be a sinner simply because Jesus would let her touch Him. The fact is there will always be people who look down on us. We will always deal with people who believe they’ve got it all together and they feel they must condescend to the rest of us because we are just not so good. We sin.

Here is what I can remember. No matter who else rejects me. No matter who else disdains me, no matter who else looks down their nose at me, Jesus will touch me. Jesus will let me come to Him. He will hold me. He will heal me. He will love me.

Today, I rest in that thought.

***Question: What about Jesus provides you comfort in your daily walk?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Matthew 11:1-12:50.

I understand now why David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” in Psalm 51:10. Jesus said, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”

Why did David pray for a clean heart and a renewed spirit? Because he understood that his sin went deeper than just a mere slip. He recognized that the sin was merely the symptom of a deeper heart problem. He didn’t simply need to apologize for the action. Rather, he needed to dig deeper and root out the canker in his heart. But more than that, he knew he couldn’t cleanse his heart on his own. He needed God to do that.

When I see the sins I have committed, I need to recognize they are actually just the symptom of the problem. The real problem is something on the inside is still amiss. I can fight all day long to quit committing the sin, but if the heart problem isn’t fixed, I’ll never overcome. I need to pray along with David for God to create in me a clean heart. I need to pray along with David for God to renew a right spirit within me. If I only attack the outside, I’m doing nothing more than trying to cover up the wound with a band-aid. I need God to perform some heart surgery. I need to submit my heart to the great physician for healing. I need to quit hanging on to parts of it for myself, but rather submit all of it to Him. If I do, He’ll heal me. He’ll cleanse me. He’ll forgive me and set me on the right path.

I must not try to excuse, justify, or minimize my sins. They are the only way I know something is wrong in the heart. If I keep looking the other way when those sins slip out, I’ll never see the problem and my soul will be lost. I need to see those sins and slips for what they are and let them guide me to turn more of my heart over to God. He’ll fix the heart problem if I’ll just let Him.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 3:1-4:25.

I’ve been a Christian for almost 23 years. In that time I’ve fought with varying degrees of success against sin. However, in that fight, for a long time, I maintained that really I had never been that much of a sinner. I had done a few things here and there, but it’s not like I was a murderer or anything.

As you can see, I was easily growing into the Pharisee who looked at the publican and essentially said, “Hey God, be thankful I’m not like that guy.”

All that changed when I was encouraged to actually write out an inventory. Go through my history and write down the sins I’d committed. Pick the top couple and give as complete a history of my involvement in those sins as I could. I was amazed. No, I didn’t suddenly remember that I had in fact murdered someone. However, I was brought face to face with the fact that I don’t just kind of need a Savior, I absolutely need a Savior.

Of course, this is what Paul is driving at in Romans 3:10-18. No one is righteous. We’ve all turned aside. Our throat is an open grave. Venom is under our tongues. Our feet are swift to shed blood. We have no fear of God in our eyes. That is exactly where we were before Jesus came on the scene. Even if you really can write out your list and it only contains a handful of minor infractions (though I doubt you can do that), sinning at all puts us at odds with God. Jesus is the one who reconciles us.

If you haven’t done it, I encourage you write your own inventory. Be gentle with yourself. Make sure you have someone you can call when the emotions overwhelm you and make you want to escape through your favorite sin. Come face to face with how much you really need Jesus. It is humbling and helpful.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

Today’s reading is from Luke 17:1-18:43.

One of the reasons I like a continual daily reading program is instead of hopping around, I get some consistency and read each book all in a row. In doing that, I sometimes catch things I otherwise would have missed if I only studied for a lesson or class. That happened today. I hate to do this, but my thoughts today will jump in to Luke 19:1-10 as well.

I saw some interesting contrasts in today’s reading all surrounding who Jesus accepts (for lack of a better term) and who He didn’t.

First, I had never thought about it before, but the reading starts off with a very interesting implied contrast. Perhaps I caught it because I’m reading from the ESV and that is relatively new for me. Luke 17:1 says, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one…” Alright, forget that you know what’s coming next and ask yourself what you expect to hear next. I expect, “But woe to the one who submits to them.” That, however, is not what Jesus says. “Woe to the one through whom they come.” Yes, yes, I know woe comes on those who sin as well. However, be shocked for a moment. Jesus chooses this opportunity to rebuke the tempter, not the sinner. WOW!

I don’t want to be distracted from my main point by getting into a discussion about Luke 17:3-4. We need to learn some lessons there. Let me simply point out for my purposes that if Jesus expects us to forgive the one who submitted to the temptations completely, we can have confidence He’ll do the same for us.

Second, there are the lepers. Clearly, it is amazing that Jesus will allow the unclean to come to Him and seek favors. But He does. However, this story goes a step further. Only one of the ten returned to give thanks and that was a Samaritan. Because of his thanksgiving, this Samaritan was accepted by Jesus. While the others were cleansed, Jesus commented on the faith of this one.

Third, in Luke 18:9-14, it is not the super personally righteous Pharisee who is justified. No, it is the sinful publican. I have to jump ahead here and note we see a parable here, but then we see this actually played out in real life in the next few verses. A ruler of the Jews comes to Jesus in Luke 18:18-23. He is not accepted by Jesus, but not because Jesus rejects him. He is not accepted because he refuses to accept Jesus as His God and submit to His direction. However, we see the contrast with Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. Remember what he was? That’s right, a publican or tax collector. Jesus accepted Zacchaeus because Zacchaeus accepted Jesus, surrendering to His will.

Fourth, while the disciples felt that little children were beneath the Master’s dignity and were certain He simply didn’t have time to deal with them, Jesus expresses just the opposite. He wants them to come and He wants us all to know we must become like them if we wish to be in the kingdom. I could be wrong here, but I think the issue of being like little children is the issue of dependence. Little children know they are dependent upon parents and others to care for them. Adults believe they are independent. We need to be like little children turning to the Father, surrendering to Him because we know we can’t make it on our own.

Finally, there is the blind beggar. Jesus did not receive the rich young ruler unto Himself, but He received the blind beggar. He healed the blind beggar despite all the others in the crowd thinking the beggar was a nuisance who should just shut up and quit bugging this awesome teacher.

After we see all of this, we recognize that being accepted into the kingdom of Jesus Christ is not about heritage and lineage. It is not about wealth or poverty. It is not about social standing. In fact, it is not even about whether or not we have sinned. Rather, it is about surrender and dependence. Only those who truly recognize how much they need Jesus and throw themselves on Him for mercy and strength, surrendering completely too His will may receive healing and the kingdom. 

Think about that for a moment. If, like the Pharisee, I’m doing all kinds of righteous actions, but I’m doing them from a motivation of, “Look at how good I am and how righteous I can be on my own,” then I will not be received by Jesus into the kingdom. Because, after all, I am not receiving Jesus into my life. I’m trusting in me. We need to be like children who see their utter dependence, like tax collectors who see their utter failure to live by God’s will, like blind beggars who are so utterly impoverished we do not care what others say but will throw ourselves on Jesus’ mercy. Then we will be lifted up and exalted and salvation will come to our house.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

II Corinthians 6:2 drives it home: “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Christianity is not merely something to think about. It is not something to tinker with for a while to see if it fits you. Christianity is about freedom in Christ. It is about freedom from guilt and shame by His love and forgiveness. It is about freedom from the controlling power of sin by His strength and grace. 

However, if you are just kind of playing with Christianity, it won’t do you any good. Half-measures accomplish nothing. We need to whole-heartedly surrender to God and submit to Him. If you haven’t done that yet, do it today. Today is the day of salvation. Trust me, this is one of those issues that if you put it off for a year and you are actually still alive a year from now, you will wish you had started today. And, having added another year of pursuing the lusts of the flesh you will find it harder to start then. So just go ahead and start today.

Just surrender yourself today to the Lord and let Him cleanse you of your sins. Then rely on His word and His people to help you grow. Do exactly what the Corinthians did to surrender themselves to the Lord. 

Acts 18:8 says, “And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.” If you haven’t committed your life to Christ through faith in the working of God in baptism (immersion in water) for the remission of sins, do it today. Don’t wait. There is no other plan by which you may be set free from your sins and receive the salvation Jesus offers.

Don’t delay. Today is the day of salvation.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC